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Updated 31 August 2011

Regardless of whether China is more practical, materialistic and down to earth than India or India is more philosophical, religious and transcendental than China, both have a long tradition of religions and philosophies.

Of the religions practised in India Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism originated there. Up to around the 7th century CE, Hinduism was not uniform and there were many conflicting sects and schools. Buddhism was gaining ground.

Adi Shankaracharya through meditation, study of the Vedas and the Vedanta and widespread discourse with proponents of various sects and schools, unified Hinduism and founded four monasteries. These have continued to today and the heads of each is entitled Shankaracharya. They are sort-of like the Archbishops of York and Canterbury in the Anglican Church, though there is no allegiance to the state as is the case in the Church of England. In fact, when India became independent, the constitution specifically defined India as a secular state.

Partly due to this consolidation and reform of Hinduism, Buddhism started to decline in India. Fortunately, through Asoka and his successors Buddhism had been spread to both the south east and the west of India, Buddhism thrives today in much of SE Asia. It was the western spread that reached Gandhara, then a Grecian remnant of Alexander’s empire – in today’s north-east Pakistan and southern Afghanistan – from where the Grecian-style of hair was adopted for statues of Buddha, with frizzled hair. The real Buddha was a monk with a clean-shaven head! Interestingly, the Buddha in his sermons did not preach about a deity. Despite that, today, although many Buddhists adhere to his original teaching, many more have turned him and some of his key disciples into heavenly beings.

Hinduism is both a religion and a philosophy. One of the best books about Hinduism is The Hindu View of Life by Dr S Radhakrishnan, one of India’s greatest philosophers. He was a scholar and then professor at Oxford University and later was appointed President of India in 1962. One of the central beliefs of Hindus is moksha which is the idea of release or liberation of one’s soul from the cycle of rebirth and the losing of one’s self into the Self.

Another concept is dharmawhich refers to duties that have to be performed at different stages of one’s life. These must be completed without a thought of possible rewards or benefits and should also be accomplished to the best of one’s ability. They are responsible for the prevailing social order in the world.

All four Indian-originated religions subscribe to the belief in karma– put simply a law of cause and effect, a “reap as you sow” or “every force has an equal and opposite reaction”. The main distinguishing aspect of karma is that, with the belief in reincarnation, the effect may take place a few lifetimes later than the cause. Sometimes, karma is used as an excuse for one’s misfortunes, blaming some past incarnation. If one does enough good deeds for long enough over several lifetimes then eventually one will achieve nirvanaor enlightenment. And according to Buddhist teachings one will no longer have to come back into this karmic cycle of suffering.

Incidentally, India has nearly as many Muslims – 150m, as Pakistan – 160m.

Treating body, mind and spirit a l’Indien

In addition to being religious, Indians are also strong believers in meditation for the mind and spirit – of which Transcendental Meditation TM is the best known in the west after the Beatles followed the late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to his ashram in Rishikesh. Though they later abandoned the practice. Each meditator is given a personal mantra.

Then there is yogawhich in Sanskrit means to unite, the practice of which unites the body, mind and spirit. There are numerous forms and schools. One of the most popular forms in the west is Hatha Yoga with its various asanasor postures and pranayamabreathing exercises.

And theKama Sutra guide to a healthy and vigorous sex life, accompanied by the erotic carvings in the Khajuraho temples. According to research, the Kama Sutra was not a Vedic text but developed later, perhaps in the Gupta period (c350 BCE).

Palmistry and astrology are very popular and used for horoscopes. The latter is also used for example to pick auspicious dates and times for important domestic events like weddings, starting new jobs or moving homes, but also for public events, such as the opening of a new school, factory or dam.

Finally, just because Indians are spiritual or intellectual does not mean they neglect the body. So there is ayurvedathe earliest school of medicine known to mankind, with the associated body-diet categories or doshas: vata, pitta and kapha.